Category: Recovery from Childhood Abuse

Trigger warning – the following contains reference to violence in childhood and describes a binge eating episode. Please take care of yourself. ________________ During the weekend I struggled with some depression that had me flat on my back in bed for many hours. I was upset and disappointed, because it caught me off guard as…

What I’m Doing with my Blog: I’ve added a “Resources” page which is accessible at the top right of the blog. It contains a few items right now, and I will be updating it with resources that I’ve returned to over and over again. Information resources will be listed, as well as resources for relief,…

In my early adulthood, I was an utterly shattered and lost soul because of the abuse I experienced as a child and growing up in my family home. I had no sense of being worthy and powerful on the inside or of being able to protect myself and my boundaries. I didn’t know I had…

I wanted to share this fabulous article by Dr. Margaret Paul (www.innerbonding.com). Much of her work seems to be focused on finding self-love, rather than trying to “get” someone else to love you. In this article she talks about what is happening when we ask someone for help. It is normal, healthy and necessary…

“I needed words because unhappy families are conspiracies of silence. The one who breaks the silence is never forgiven. He or she has to learn to forgive him or herself.” Jeanette Winterson, Why Be Happy When You Can Be Normal

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately about boundaries. Simply put, boundaries are limits we set in place to protect ourselves and our uniqueness, that let other people know how we will and will not be treated. (And when we don’t have good boundaries of our own, we tend to trod all over other…

At 50 years old I am struggling with abuse by my parents starting from young childhood and continuing into adulthood. I “kick myself” for not having dealt with this much earlier in my life — in many ways, I’ve suffered so much and I’ve lost so much time. I kick myself in quotation marks only…

Have you ever had one of those plants that looks like it’s alive, but it’s not really? It doesn’t necessarily have any brown leaves; some of them could be yellowish when they should be bright green. But it’s not growing, that plant. You water it. But you sort of want to throw it out because…

The abuse I endured as a child has impacted me in any number of ways. “Doubt” sums up all of them. In his book, The Great Work of Your Life, Stephen Cope calls doubt the greatest inhibiting factor to a great life. I have to say, this applies to me. It took me eleven years…

As I take inventory of the way I feel this morning, what I feel is: fed up. That sums it up, loud and clear. Fed up. I’m tired of being silent, hands tied, gag in my mouth. I’m tired of hiding, being a speck, being invisible. I want to move forward. I want to live…

I am plagued by a continual broken record implanted in my mind and in my heart: I am bad, I am evil, I am undeserving, I am not as good as others, I am not good enough, I am wrong, I don’t deserve to be alive. Messages I received, directly or implicitly, from my mother…